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Shueisha Establishes New Department Focused on Dragon Ball

Japanese publisher Shueisha announced during a "new publications project presentation" in Tokyo on Wednesday that it had created a new department called the "Dragon Ball Room" in June that focuses specifically on Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball property. Akio Iyoku, the editor-in-chief of Shueisha's V Jump magazine (where Toriyama and Toyotarō's Dragon Ball Super manga is currently serialized), is heading the new department.

The department is working to provide new ideas for content for Dragon Ball, and to optimize and expand the brand. Iyoku commented that the department is "only thinking about Dragon Ball."

Dragon Ball creator Toriyama commented on the new department, saying that the team was one he could put his trust in. He joked, "It's really great that I don't have to do anything now."

Toriyama's Dragon Ball manga ran in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1984 to 1995. The manga has sold over 240 million copies. The manga has inspired an entire media franchise that consists of a long-running television anime adaptation, multiple anime films, video games, and more. A new television anime titled Dragon Ball Super premiered in Japan in July 2015. The anime is the first new television anime in the franchise in 18 years.

Source: The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web via Hachima Kikō